id Software co-founder says developers must follow demands of market
John Carmack, technical director at US studio Id Software, believes upcoming handhelds from Nintendo and Sony could be the last of their kind.
The veteran game developer, who had helped build a custom engine for iPhone and iPad games, said consumers dictate what platforms the industry should invest in.
And with the rapidly increasing popularity of smartphones, Carmack appeared unsure whether the specialised handheld platform will last another generation.
“The smartphone may turn out to be 80 percent as good at gaming as a dedicated gaming platform,” Carmack told Dallas News.
“People are going to carry their smartphone, and if it’s an 80 percent gaming device, how many people in the gaming market will be satisfied with that? That’s the question that’s in everybody’s mind, and I really don’t know.”
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Carmack added that if consumers pine for smartphones over handhelds, then the industry has to follow.
“If that’s what the consumers are going to trend towards on there, there may not be much as developers we can do about that,” he said.
He added that the 3DS and NGP could represent the last generation of specialised handheld game consoles ever built.
“You don’t always get to build pyramids just because you want to,” he said.
In my opinion this is no different from the PC VS Console market. Saying that this is the last generation of handheld consoles is just stupid. Saying that it may be the last generation is like saying 2012 may be the end of the world...
I agree, both have a place on the marketplace and to be perfectly honest 3DS and NGP would not be put on the market if there are/going to be anyone to sell it to. It's a risk all developers (software or hardware) take and quite frankly I'm shocked that Carmack of all people would come out and say such things.
Time will tell and lets hope he's wrong =P
-EDIT- "if they is NOT going to be anyone to sell to... Fail.
I think he is right about this. The handheld market filled a niche that is fading away. Why buy another mobile device and carry it around with you when you can game on the smart phone you have to carry around anyway? The real test will be when AAA titles are being regularly released on smartphones.
I don't think that the handheld marked filled a niche. AFAIK the Nintendo DS is the console with highest sales numbers. According to that the whole non-PC video game market would be a niche and that is not the case.
The problem with Smartphones growing in popularity is that right now, there are more smartphone platforms than ever before. Fragmentation is rife, within and between all the platforms.
Until that is resolved (perhaps when even the lowest of the low-end phones is capable of playing back 3d games at HD), I believe dedicated handhelds will remain the safe bet for big budget titles. (Even though personally, I probably won't buy either the 3DS or PSP2 and will probably opt for a new dual-core Android.)
